May 11, 2009 ~ Free Feet 2 Leifs thinking on his feet

I’m borrowing a lot for this entry. Boy am I excited to be able to! Over the past years I’ve helped many people ditch their orthotics, lifts, custom shoes and chronic foot pain by teaching them how to open their arches and trust the natural structure of their foot. The pictures above link to articles and info about feet that’s helping turn traditional thinking about shoes and feet on it’s head.
The “new school” of cutting-edge foot thought isn’t “new school” at all- it’s so “old school” that it’s “original school” – let feet be feet! My friend Leif brought these articles, and the existence of Vibram’s five-finger footware to my attention and I wanted to say thanks by posting this entry. My feet feel these to be the most intelligent shoes I’ve worn. I will be recommending these shoes to my clients as they build trust in their arches. (Wearing these shoes should be thought of as exercise, until your feet have built the strength to support themselves, at which point your feet will already be in love with these shoes too).
Leif is inspiring. Forgive me if I jumble the details of his story, the point is that his journey has led him to be excited about, and share this info with the rest of us. Leif spent a quite a few years deeply pondering bone structure as he studied Kennewick Man for his masters degree, he also happened to develop a taste for running 50k, 100k, and various other ultra-distance runs, or occasionally riding his unicycle 100 miles in a single go. Leif points out that he performs ultra-runs in Vibram Five Fingers shoes as pictured at the top of this page. (The pic is of my new pair- loving them!- now @ REI!) Clicking the pic will open Vibram’s website for more info and help finding Five Fingers near you. Leif sets a wonderful example of what is possible, when you do some deep thinking about your body and make the choice to trust what you grew there in the first place.
Keeping with the Comfort Generating theme of this blog: Little else is more comforting than trusting yourself- mind, body and spirit. Open the eyes of your feet, learn to trust your connection with the planet. For training, check out Rooted Movement Classes, and check out my original Free Feet video in this blog for some additional foot liberation assistance.

P.S. -I’ll be spearheading the grassroots campaign lobbying Vibram for professional Five Finger Footware, and lobbying the fashion industry to tolerate Five Fingers poking out from the bottom of a three piece suit. Contribute to the efforts below. Your verticality at age 90 could depend on it.

The “Eye of the Foot” opens when the arches open, and distribute the shock of weight bearing as they were meant to.